Νίσιβις - Stephanos Ethnika

Νίσιβις OCR ✓ Trans ✓ Confirmed ✓

city

Entry #65
Greek source: meineke
Meineke: - | Billerbeck: Ν65
OCR: gemini-constrained (gemini-3-flash-preview) on 2025-12-31
Word count: 76
AI prompt: v1
Sources: Φίλων (Philon (Philo)) FGrHist 790 F 6 [Φοινικικοῖς], Οὐράνιος (Ouranios) FGrHist 675 F 30, Στράβων (Strabo) 16,1,23 [C 747,6]
Entities: Νισιβις (Nisibis) [place], Τίγρης (Tigris) [place], Νισιβις (Nisibis (variant)) [place], Νισιβις (Nisibis (variant)) [place], Φοίνικες (Phoenicians) [people], Νισιβηνός (Nisibene (ethnic)) [people], Νισιβίτης (Nisibite (resident)) [people], Αἰγύπτιος (Egyptian) [people], Λίβυς (Libyan / Libya) [people], Εὐφράτης (Euphrates) [place], Σωφηνός (Sophene (ethnic/form)) [people], Ἀραξηνός (Araxene / of Araxes (ethnic)) [people], Καμβυσηνός (Cambysene / (ethnic)) [people]
Etymologies: Borrowing Non Greek: Philo (in his Phoenician work) writes Νάσιβις (with α). Philo says it means 'nāsibis — the stelae.'; Borrowing Non Greek: Ouranios (writing Νέσιβις with ε) says that 'nésibis' in the Phoenician tongue means 'stones placed together, piled stones' (stones heaped/assembled).; Unclear Metalinguistic: Variant spellings: Philo gives Νάσιβις (via α) while Ouranios gives Νέσιβις (via ε). (Orthographic/phonetic variants of the place-name.); Unclear Metalinguistic: Strabo uses the -ις form: the ethnicon Νισιβηνός. It should be Νισιβίτης, but the Egyptian and Libyan type (uses a different form); the -ηνος form occurs in regions by the Euphrates and the 'heō' (examples: Σωφηνός, Ἀραξηνός, Καμβυσηνός). (Discussion of ethnicon/formation rather than origin.)
Source: e9783110219630_i1712.jpg
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Νίσιβις, πόλις ἐν τῇ Περαίᾳ τῇ πρὸς τῷ Τίγρητι ποταμῷ. Φίλων ἐν Φοινικικοῖς Νάσιβις φησὶ διὰ τοῦ « α ». Οὐράνιος δὲ διὰ τοῦ « ε » Νέσιβις· σημαίνει δέ, ὥς φησι Φίλων, νάσιβις τὰς στήλας”. ὁ δὲ Οὐράνιος “νέσιβις” φησί “σημαίνει τῇ Φοινίκων φωνῇ λίθοι συγκείμενοι, συμφορητοί”. Στράβων δὲ ἑκκαιδεκάτῃ διὰ τοῦ « ι ». τὸ ἐθνικὸν Νισιβηνός. ἔδει Νισιβίτης, ἀλλ´ ὁ τύπος Αἰγύπτιος καὶ Λίβυς, ὁ δὲ διὰ τοῦ « ηνος » παρὰ τὸν Εὐφράτην καὶ τὴν ἕω, ὡς Σωφηνός Ταβηνός Καμβυσηνός.

Nisibis: a city in the land across (the river), on the side of the river Tigris. Philo in his *Phoenician Matters* says the name is written *Nasibis* with alpha; but Uranios with epsilon, *Nesibis*. And it means, as Philo says, “nasibis: the stelae.” But as Uranios says “nesibis,” it means in the Phoenicians’ language “stones set together, piled up.” Strabo too, in book 16, has it with iota. The ethnic is *Nisibenos*. It ought to be *Nisibites*, but the pattern is like *Aigyptios* and *Libys*; whereas the form in -ēnos is used for places by the Euphrates and toward the East, as *Sophēnos*, *Araxēnos*, *Kambysēnos*.

Herodian overlaps

Stephanos excerpt (left) is aligned with matched Herodian passages (right). Colors indicate corresponding overlap spans.

Herodian 1.87

char LCS 37 (10.4%) · word LCS 9 (11.8%)

Stephanos

Νίσιβις, πόλις ἐν τῇ Περαίᾳ τῇ πρὸς τῷ Τίγρητι ποταμῷ. Φίλων ἐν Φοινικικοῖς Νάσιβις φησὶ διὰ τοῦ « α ». Οὐράνιος δὲ διὰ τοῦ « ε » Νέσιβις· σημαίνει δέ, ὥς φησι Φίλων, νάσιβις τὰς στήλας”. ὁ δὲ Οὐράνιος “νέσιβις” φησί “σημαίνει τῇ Φοινίκων φωνῇ λίθοι συγκείμενοι, συμ…

Herodian

…ς. οὕτω καὶ Στράβων (p 802). ἔστι καὶ ἄλλη ἐν Ἀραβίᾳ. Ἴαβις πόλις τῆς Γαλαδίτιδος. Ἰώσηπος (A. I. 5, 2, 11 et 6, 14, 8). λέγεται καὶ Ἰαβισσός. Κάραμβις ἄκρα τοῦ Πόντου. Πνέβεβις πόλις Αἰγύπτου, Ψινέκταβις κώμη Αἰγυπτία. Νίσιβις πόλις ἐν τῇ Περαίᾳ τῇ πρὸς τῷ Τίγρητι. Φίλων ἐν Φοινικικοῖς Νάσιβις φησὶ διὰ τοῦ 'α'. σημαίνει δέ, ὥς φησι Φίλων, νάσιβις τὰς στήλας. Δάνουβις ἢ Δάνουσις Ἴστρος ὁ ποταμός. ἑρμηνεύεται δὲ ὥσπερ τοῦ ἁμαρτεῖν ἔχων αἰτίαν. Ἄνουβις, κάνναβις. σημείωσαι τὸ καλλαβ…